Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Dead to Me 
SERIES: Cold Case Psychic #5
AUTHOR: Pandora Pine
NARRATOR: Michael Pauley
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: December 26, 2018
LENGTH: 7 hours, 47 minutes
BLURB:
Psychic Tennyson Grimm was kicked out of his house and disowned by his religious parents when he came out to them as gay and psychic. The last thing Tennyson’s father said before the teenager boarded a Greyhound bus to Boston was that his son was dead to him. Flash forward 13 years later: Tennyson couldn’t have been more surprised when he woke to find the newly dead spirit of his father sitting on the end of his bed. David Grimm had one request of his estranged son: Go to Kansas and reunite with his mother.
Cold case detective Ronan O’Mara was all for this family reunion. Still recovering from injuries suffered during his last criminal investigation, he figures they’ll fly to Kansas, bury Tennyson’s father and the hatchet with Kaye Grimm, then come back to Boston in time to plan their upcoming wedding.
When the Union Chapel sheriff comes to Tennyson and Ronan with a years-old cold case he’d like them to look into, the Boston-based duo can’t turn down taking a peek at the case file. Tennyson is easily able to figure out whodunit, but the sheriff is leery to believe in his gift, bringing old prejudices back to life, and leaving Ronan to hunt for physical evidence the killer left behind.
Will Ronan be able to solve the cold case and help Tennyson resolve the decade-old feud with his mother? Or will the tornado with its sights set on the tiny town of Union Chapel, Kansas, make the other questions moot?
REVIEW:
My poor heart. Or rather poor Tennyson, I can only imagine the pain he’s gone through. The opening of this book was pure heartbreak.
“Mom, dad, I’m gay and psychic” Few sentences are as scary to say to your deeply religious parents as this one. As you might have guessed, this book takes us back to when Ten was seventeen, sitting in church and deciding to tell his parent the truth about him, what’s he’s been hiding for the past few years. To say that they were less than happy is putting it mildly – at least he’d be able to stay until finishing high school, then he was on his own – bus ticket in hand and a ride to the station was all he got. That and the words that he was dead to them. It makes me soo mad that I lack words for it! Isn’t a parent’s love supposed to be unconditional?
Fast forward thirteen years to Ten and Ronan as a happy couple, a new puppy to shower them with love, loving friends and a wedding to plan. But that all needs to be put on hold when a spirit comes knocking in the middle of the night. And not just any spirit either – but the one of Ten’s recently deceased father. A spirit asking Ten to go back home and help his mother plan the funeral and plan for the future. A mother who’s less than thrilled to see Ten and Ronan on her doorstep.
I hated to listen to how Kaye treated her son. That she hadn’t mellowed even a little bit over the past decade. You’d think she missed her only child, but the way she verbally attacked him and Ronan and set up rules for them when they were there to help her out really furiated me. Something that I did love though was how Ten and Ronan stood tall through it all. They never faltered, they were strong and together. I just loved to see how far they’ve gotten in their relationship. The loyalty, trust and love, it was there in their interactions and I think they balance each other really well.
And being the two guys that they are, they also get roped into investigating a cold case – the only unsolved case in town as a matter of fact. A ten year old murder. While this doesn’t have as much room as the investigations usually have in this series, I do feel that it was a good “break” from all the hostility and homophobia. It served as a bit of a breather. It was an obvious crime to solve, but I liked it all the same. Or well, the investigation part of it, not the crime or culprit, because that was truly messed up. Not surprising, but messed up all the same.
Michael Pauley is perfect for this series. I love his voice and his performance of the books. He captures the feelings just right. Something that he nailed was Greeley’s eagerness to investigate – it made me smile, I could see him before me and hear his enthusiasm. He’s just such a wonderful secondary character and I love that he gets more of a role in the series. And as always I loved him for both Ronan and Ten. A hit all around.
There was a lot of heart break in this story. But there was also forgiveness, a new beginning and moving forward. But more than that I have to say that this book had the perfect ending/epilogue – the wedding between our two guys. Another new beginning, promise for the future and affirmation of the love they share and the journey they’ve travelled to get to that point. But more importantly, the promise of tomorrow.
RATING: 
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